Blue's Garden

Jack: "I don't care if it's cleaning day. You can't have my pillow."

(He let me have it. Eventually. Now everything is clean, the laundry is all done, and the only thing left is dishes later this evening. Woot! \o/)

So a short while ago, Jack starts barking. It's 10:30 PM, normally a bit later than I'd let him carry on, but it's been hot, he's a little stir crazy, and so I ignore him. A couple minutes later he stops, maybe another minute passes, then River starts up. I roll my eyes- annnnd suddenly sit bolt upright because Jack is now baying and he is, most definitely, not inside the pen. I run up front and out the front door, then back in for a flashlight and footwear, then back out and try to figure out where he is by sound while calling for him and/or swearing.

(Blue: JACK! YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING BEAGLE DOG! COME!
Jack: BUNNNNNNNYYYYYY!!!!)

Fortunately, just 10 minutes later I catch up with the little brat and haul his furiously wagging tail back in the house. He's so damn proud of himself; he hasn't seen a bunny in (what seems to him to like) forever. I obviously need to make sure he runs his furry little butt off tomorrow and is too tired to get up to these antics!

(Needless to say, the door to the pen is now blocked for the evening. Jack and River are so not on board with this plan.)

I went to town yesterday to the grocery store for the first time in quite a while. Once I made it home, I drug the groceries inside, put the cold stuff away, changed around my clothes and added a layer, loaded the pups in the car, and went down to Mother-in-Law's for a walk in the woods.

This seemed like a good idea at the time. I took the camera, River could use the exercise, etc.

First of all, it's the dead of winter with a negative temperature wind chill, so I was wearing insulated bibs over jeans and turtleneck with a wool jacket and another corduroy jacket on top of that. I had on two pairs of socks, neoprene and rubber chore boots, a knit cap, and leather gloves. I was not cold! Unfortunately, I was not flexible either and it all made walking anywhere a bit tiring let alone over the hills and valleys of the field before we even made it to the woods. Jack promptly disappeared and I didn't see him again until we arrived back at the house - I think when I kept beeping him, that's where he went looking for me. River was with me though and we headed into the woods, along the trail where the snowmobiles had beat it down into something reasonable to walk on. All was well until we made it to neighbors paint ball set-up and I had the bright idea to go off the path, which didn't go over to the actual town set-up, and check things out over there.

Oh my god.

Fifty yards of fording through knee deep snow later, I thought I was dying. I stopped three times in the process just to catch my breath and by then I was screwed - the path was pretty much at least fifty yards away in any direction. I sat down on the porch of one of the buildings to catch my breath which, um, took a while. Meanwhile, River rustled up a bunny and chased it around (or tried, the bunny was having none of that nonsense today and ran straight to one of its bolt holes, leaving River sniffing in the snow behind it.)

Forging a trail back to the path was just as much fun as I expected. Oh sure, I could have stepped in my own footprints and maybe had it a bit easier, but that didn't occur to me until later; I was trying to make the whole trip shorter, so I went out the other side in order to pick up the path at a different spot. At one point I slipped down onto my knees (nicely cushioned by the snow at least) and decided to just stay there for a minute because down was good, very good. Talk about unintended exercise. Obviously, I survived, but my hips and lungs were screaming by the time I made it back to the car, an hour after we set out - my lungs especially from all the heavy breathing in the very cold air.

(Jack: *comes running from the house*
Blue: "There you are, buddy!" *wheeze* "I kept beeping you - you missed the whole adventure! There was even a bunny."
Jack: "OMG THERE YOU ARE I LOOKED EVERYWHERE WHERE WERE YOU?! Wait, bunny? THERE WAS A BUNNY?!"
River: *smug*)

Back home, I changed into pajamas, drank a bottle of water, and crawled into bed. As usual after exposure to the cold, I went from hot to warm to cold bits mixed with mostly feverish all over. So after a hot bath and crawling back in bed for a nap, my hips were only just achy although I'm paying a bit more for it today.

Oh, and River? The one who needs exercise? Ran circles around me and was never even out of breath. Seriously. I didn't even take that many pictures, mostly because there simply wasn't much to take pictures of - no ice, no critters, no birds, etc. *sigh* Of course, towards the end, I was concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other and wondering where the hell Jack was, so photography was the least of my concerns.

I've since decided that I should take up running since it can't possibly be any worse that what I did to myself yesterday.

( Photographic Evidence, Such As It Is )

I achieved a highly addictive cobbler today! Peach, to be precise, and it is yummmmy. I may have had two servings already.

( Nine images, all from November 14th, mostly just me playing with the camera. The pups as subjects. *g* )